Lester Holt will be stepping down as anchor of NBC Nightly News and moving on to another project, he announced on Monday.
Holt, who has been involved in the show for over ten years, will make the transition at the beginning of the summer and move to work full time at Dateline. NBC News noted that “he has been the principal anchor” there “for almost 15 years.”
“A smile comes to my face when I think that with Nightly News, and Dateline, I have now anchored two of the most successful and iconic television news programs in broadcast history,” Holt wrote in a memo to staffers.
“As a 20-year-old radio reporter on the police beat chasing breaking news around San Francisco, I could never have imagined my career path would unfold in the way it has,” he continued. “What an amazing ride.”
NBC News executive VP Janelle Rodriguez wrote in a memo to staff that Holt — “the beating heart of this news organization” — has “earned deep respect and reverence from our newsroom, industry colleagues and, most importantly, viewers.”
“What’s equally remarkable is how Lester has masterfully filled this esteemed role with extraordinary grace and humility,” she continued. “He’s proven time and time again why he stands among the great legends of broadcast news.”
Holt reportedly told Dateline staff that he plans on “expanding my footprint on the broadcast and crafting ‘Dateline’ hours on subjects I care deeply about.”
“I am thrilled to be able to work more closely with my enormously talented friends at Dateline as the broadcast continues to grow and attract new viewers in new places,” he continued.
It remains unclear who will take Holt’s place on NBC Nightly News.
WATCH — President Trump: AP Has Been “Very Wrong” on Covering Me, Conservatives:
This comes on the heels of other establishment media changes catching attention, including the cancellation of Joy Reid’s MSNBC show, The ReidOut.
“Lowlife Chairman of ‘Concast,’ Brian Roberts, the owner of Ratings Challenged NBC and MSDNC, has finally gotten the nerve up to fire one of the least talented people in television, the mentally obnoxious racist, Joy Reid,” President Donald Trump said in reaction to the news, continuing:
Based on her ratings, which were virtually non-existent, she should have been “canned” long ago, along with everyone else who works there. Also thrown out was Alex Wagner, the sub on the seriously failing Rachel Maddow show. Rachel rarely shows up because she knows there’s nobody watching, and she also knows that she’s got less television persona than virtually anyone on television except, perhaps, Joy Reid. Then there’s, of course, the LOW IQ Con Man, Al Sharpton, who has, perhaps, the lowest TV ratings in the history of television. What is he doing to Brian Roberts to stay on the air? This whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party. They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done to our Country. Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN!